“What Happens When You Raise the Minimum Wage?” Video Provides Economic Data and Scholarship, Not Partisan Arguments -- In Advance of Obama's State of the Union Address

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Americans are being told that the proposed minimum wage increase leads either to high rates of unemployment or significant economic mobility. But past studies by leading economists show that increasing the minimum wage by a dollar or two does not have large effects on businesses, workers, or the economy.

“Our research indicates that the current discussions about the minimum wage increase are far too simplistic,” says 22nd Century Publisher Tom Martin.

Austin, TX (PRWEB)January 21, 2014

22nd Century, a project of the Convergence Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to social change through civic education, releases the data-driven video “What Happens When You Raise the Minimum Wage?” Designed for the millions of Americans who have been told that a minimum wage increase either leads to high rates of unemployment or significant economic mobility, the video features:

An overview of how politicians discuss the minimum wage

Data on who currently earns the minimum wage

Charts of how minimum wage increases have affected employers and employees in the past

A summary of the tradeoffs of a 25 percent minimum wage increase

“Our research indicates that the current discussions about the minimum wage increase are far too simplistic,” notes 22nd Century publisher Tom Martin. “The fact is there are costs and benefits, which economists have been studying for years. Our video aims to summarize and visualize those studies, thus offering an educational resource to American citizens.”

22nd Century is not an advocacy organization. Its mission is to provide data-rich facts and scholarly analyses about economic, political, and social tradeoffs facing Americans. It maintains its nonpartisanship by showing how the left and the right view issues and relies on the best information and scholarship on complex subjects. 22nd Century operates on the belief that:

1. Original source information, scholarship, and data that can best inform civic choices—and that previously were available to few people—are buried under a mass of storytelling, partisan bicker, and 24 hour news coverage, or are simply ignored;

2. Original source information and data need to be repackaged into charts, infographics, and data-rich presentations that are nuanced yet easy to understand.